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Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc and its hand-in-glove partner, Semillon, have a long and noble history in winemaking annals. The Romans, who brought vitis vinifera with them from the Near East in their tireless conquest of European lands, planted Sauvignon Blanc throughout France in the early years of the Christioan era. Both varietals were well established throughout French viticultural areas by the 17th century and the best wines made from them were in great demand. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, had a high opinion of the dry white Graves produced by the Benedictine Abbey at Saint Croix, whose vineyards were located at the famed Chateau Carbonnieux. And there is a fanciful story of how the good Benedictine Fathers, by labeling their wine Eaux Minerales de Carbonnieux, smuggled barrels through the customs houses into Moslem Turkey and made a fine profit. The Turks wondered: "How can Christians drink wine when they have such wonderful water?"

A Different French Paradox

Today, both varietals remain widely planted in France, and produce the great sweet Sauternes and the rich silky Graves of the Bordeaux region. Along the Loire River, Sauvignon Blanc yields the world famous Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume wines. Despite its plantings in France, and its good reputation as a classic varietal, Sauvignon Blanc has had a very difficult time elevating itself into the ranks of the truly magnificent white wines of the world. The fact is that it is much easier to make a mediocre Sauvignon Blanc than it is to make a good one. Sauvignon Blanc has a very strong personality, and its name implies (Sauvignon=sauvage=savage) that personality can be untamed –green and bitter-in the hands of a vintner who cannot control it.

Yes its cuttings have been exported around the world: winemakers are nothing if not eternal optimists. Two wine growing regions in particular are now producing notable offering of Sauvignon Blanc-New Zealand and California. Sauvignon Blanc puts New Zealand on the world map for wine, with early vintages of this varietal dating no further back than 1980. Yet New Zealand vintners quickly developed a sense of style for Sauvignon Blanc that has met with worldwide approval.

The grape first came to the United States in 1858, when vintners Charles Wente and Louis Mel planted it in California's Livermore Valley, east of San Francisco. The grapes flourished in the gravely soil, but failed to make the impact on wine consumers until the late 1960s and early 1970s when winemakers began experimenting with classic white varietals in many different viticultural areas and wine drinkers became familiar with Sauvignon Blanc. In the intervening twenty-five years, vintners throughout California have wrestled with this stylistically temperamental varietal with varying degree of success. More and more of those optimistic vintners are now making Sauvignon Blanc.

Americans are still enjoying a love affair with Chardonnay, and while Chardonnay is not technically a sweet wine, it has fruit characteristics that make it seem sweeter when tasted next to Sauvignon Blanc. And American wine lovers really like the full, rich fruitiness of Chardonnay.

Taming Sauvignon Blanc in the Vineyard

As American vintners began planting and growing Sauvignon Blanc grapes, they also began a lengthy learning curve in understanding the viticultural proclivities of this varietal. Sauvignon Blanc is, first of all, a vigorous grower. It likes nothing better than to put out leaves and shoots and grow upward and outward, unlike Chardonnay, whose shoots and leaves droop downward. And the greater the soil vigor, the more energy Sauvignon Blanc will put into vine and leaf development. Such vigorous vine growth, plus abundant shading from large and plentiful leaves will result in an unbalanced vine with fruit that is underexposed to the sun and never achieves full ripeness. This fruit can become only a hard, tight and bitter wine.

However, adequate shading of the growing grapes is essential, because while sun exposure is necessary to ripen the grapes, sunburned fruit results in a harsh, browned wine that is even less attractive than under ripe wine.  This is lesson number one for the vintner: control the vine's growth from the beginning.

The Style Thing

Perhaps the single most important decision in determining Sauvignon Blanc style, year after year, is the decision about when to pick the grapes. Careful monitoring throughout the growing season is needed to make sure the fruit is ripening properly, with neither too much shade nor too much sunlight on the maturing clusters. In the week or two preceding the actual harvest the winemaker has to spend a great deal of time in the vineyards, tasting and sampling the grapes. Achieving the desired level of sugar is simply a given. They are looking for much, much more-fully ripe tannins in the skin of the grape and fruit flavor that is fully developed, ripe and rich, yet not overblown or flabby.

They are waiting for fruit maturity that will give flavor characteristics ranging from the warmth of melon and fig flavors to the citrusy coolness touched with sweet grass. Its texture should be silky but not lush or flabby. After all, the most fundamental charm of this grape is its cool grassiness: this must be carefully controlled to avoid any bitterness or vegetative character (like asparagus),but to shy away from the wine's fundamental personality makes no sense. Why make Sauvignon Blanc if you don't want it to taste like Sauvignon Blanc?

Not Easy to Grow, Not Easy to Make

Having harvested the fruit, each lot of grapes coming into the winery is given individual treatment. No two lots are identical in character, and winemakers are careful to maximize the complexity of the fruit by vinifying separately to take advantage of the spectrum of flavors and textures in the grapes. Most winemakers ferment and age their Sauvignon Blanc in stainless steel tank in order to preserve the natural flavors of the grape. Winemakers, who choose to ferment and/or age part of the harvest in oak barrel would use only older barrels to prevent the masking of delicate fruit flavors with oak wood flavors.

The finishing touch is in the blending of the different lots. If the wine is made in the style of white Bordeaux, Semillon will be blended in to give the wine a round texture and add complexity to the wine.

The Food–Friendliest Wine

Sauvignon Blanc is an exceptionally food-friendly wine. In today's health-and diet-conscious eating climate, more and more people are enjoying Mediterranean-style foods that incorporate pasta with smoked or grilled fish, shellfish and vegetables, tomato and goat cheeses, and olive oil (instead of butter) based dishes. These popular, tasty and healthy foods are natural companions to Sauvignon Blanc.